Just bought an L series, now for the questions...

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:53 am

Hi People. I just bought an L series wagon out of the Trading Post. It's a stock '89 model with 170,000 on the clock. I paid $3300 for it with a roady and long reg so I'm pretty happy, just detailed it up and it's now looking pretty neat. I have a few questions for those on here regarding some changes I'd like to make.

Firstly, will 14" or 15" rims fit without lifting the vehicle? I may look into a 2" lift at some stage but for now I would like to fit better tyres to the car than the ones it came with so it makes sense to upgrade the rims at the same time.

Secondly, there is no tacho. Is there an instrument cluster I can source from another model that will bolt straight in with a tacho on it?

Thirdly, the exhaust is so quiet. I need to hear the engine but not make the car stupidly loud. Any suggestions? Should I just replace the huge stock rear muffler with a smaller one?

Thanks, Marty

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:10 am

Congrats on the new ride, she sound nice.

Rims = 15” will fit however you will need to have the correct offset and be aware that the extra large footprint will take some more grunt to turn them. The 14” will fit however again be aware that only a few manufactures the correct offset for the Subaru.

With the exhaust you will not need bigger then 2” and you will get a nice ricer note. Just be aware of the muffler you put in it as this will have an effect of the final note as well.

This is my 2c, expect there to be some differing options - Sorry gota keep moving.

Willie · Post by **Willie** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:13 am

G'day Marty, welcome to the Subaru brotherhood,

Of course 14 or 15" wheels will fit - even larger, as long as the correct profile rubber is fitted and offsets are maintained within range. I had 7x15" Simmons on an RX, with 205/65/15 rubber on it without any problems. (Most will say I should have stuck with 60 series profile, though.)

Have a look at the thread under the "Group buys" forum.

Instrument clusters with tachos were availabe in the L series. A few different ones around, so need to stipulate what you want. Some will have the turbo light in it, some from Automatics, some from full time 4WD (imports) etc.

Definately go for a lift - it make them look so much better and perform better off road.

Hope you enjoy your new ride - we all love them on here and I'm sure you will get plenty of support if and when you need it.

BTW, where are you located?

Cheers,

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:24 pm

I noticed that on Ebay at the moment there is an instrument cluster out of an RX turbo, will this fit in without major wiring headaches? Here's the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sports-instrumen ... dZViewItem

Thanks for the comments guy's here's a pic:

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:28 pm

One other thing, the fuel guage only reads a bit over half when the tank is full. I earthed out the sender wires and the guage reads all the way, is there a problem with the tank senders in these things?

twc · Post by **twc** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:26 pm

yes there is a common problem with these units ,something to do with our difering quality and standards of fuel i believe.

Quite a few of us seem to have gauges that read differing amounts when full.

I think most of us have done """run the tank from full to empty trick to see how far your particular subie will go""".

Thankfully subies guages seem to read on the pesimistic side rather than optimistic (whence you run out of fuel) so you should have some reserve when the tank says empty.

Chris_Rogers · Post by **Chris_Rogers** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:04 pm

in regard to tyre size 16x7 (with a 45 profile) will fit under them if you use it for street duties. off road do what the guys above said.

mine is a street car.

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:19 pm

Willie wrote:I had 7x15" Simmons on an RX, with 205/65/15 rubber on it without any problems. (Most will say I should have stuck with 60 series profile, though.)

I don't know about that - i have 195/50/15 for road usage and they are great, also closest thing to keeping the speedo accurate.

D3V1L · Post by **D3V1L** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:42 pm

nice clean ride dude....

needs : 4"lift, 27"Mud terrains, Bullbar, EJ20G

lol...thats what most of us want....but u get the idea...

welcome to the boards

dave

Marty · Post by **Marty** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:27 pm

Looks a lot cleaner since I got the heat gun onto the Sportswagon stickers on the quarters! Is there anywhere I can get a new fuel tank sender???

Willie · Post by **Willie** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 9:58 am

Jaffa wrote:I don't know about that - i have 195/50/15 for road usage and they are great, also closest thing to keeping the speedo accurate.

Sorry - got some numbers mixed up there ......

I was running 205/55/15, and most would say I should have stayed with 50 series.

That sound better.

I found the 55 gave better accuracy at the speedo - but my speedo could have been slightly out to start with and therefore give different result to Jaffa (and others).

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:36 am

Willie wrote:Sorry - got some numbers mixed up there ......

I was running 205/55/15, and most would say I should have stayed with 50 series.

That sound better.

I found the 55 gave better accuracy at the speedo - but my speedo could have been slightly out to start with and therefore give different result to Jaffa (and others).

Yer i started on the 205's however found they balloned just a bit on the rims (more of a stand out for the boys in blue).

Someone may have searched the net for 1 however i think that there is like a tyer spec conversion sheet which you can ref when changing rim/tyre sizes.

To answer you tacko question yes i believe that a tacko intriment cluster from an another L would fit however i personally have never gone from a non-tacko to a tacko so specific question are out of my scope (oh and i HATE wiring with a passion).

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:04 am

Tyre size calculator

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html

waggaclint · Post by **waggaclint** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 12:29 am

you can still get new fuel senders from subaru. they are $70 but that is trade price...

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 8:58 am

I converted my non tacho dash to tacho dash
Its not easy, but its do-able. Do you like wires? The hardest part was changing the wires that do the multi-display (the one that shows what doors are open ect)

If you are gonna take it on, i suggest that you find a dash from a car of the similar year, it mite help a little in regards to colour coding. i changed from a 92 to an 86, it was a headache.
I will help you if you have trouble, im only a PM away.

Just a quick question to those of you running low profile tyres, what offset do you have?

Gannon

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:49 pm

I remember there being an article done up by someone in the Subaru Queensland Club about what wiring changes are needed to convert from non-tacho to tacho dash, but dunno what happened to it.

If you have the opportunity, find a wrecked touring wagon & just convert the entire loom. That way, you'll gain central locking, power windows (if you want), power mirrors (again if you want), low fuel light.
Big job though as you'll have to almost strip the entire interior out.

I've got an instrument cluster from an 88 Tourer which I'm not using if you're interested.

timmo · Post by **timmo** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:05 pm

wagonist wrote:
I've got an instrument cluster from an 88 Tourer which I'm not using if you're interested.

sorry to but in here but does the tourer cluster have a manual or auto centre? I might be interested if Marty isnt. I've got an auto centre for a manual car which is annoying me a bit.

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:59 pm

Sorry, auto.
I'm using a completely different cluster from an early import GL

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:34 pm

just buy a $100 (or less) 3 1/4" tacho with inbuilt shift light and bolt that on top of the dash like i did. works a treat.

Fang · Post by **Fang** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 6:27 am

Hmm off topic (apology for hijack).. I have a manual dash with tacho, speedo, fuel, and temp if anyone is interested. Bit of a scratch on the face (just swap for yours) - and is 214,000 or so kms. I bought it from Sunspares a few years ago with a view of putting it in my DL. I ended up putting in one of those RX import dashes.

Dash has been in a cupboard for the past 3 years or so. I shall say "make an offer" for the price.

The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Just bought an L series, now for the questions...

Just bought an L series, now for the questions...

fuel sender units